Narratives

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Vintage Audio - Emperor Franz-Josef

Available here is a sound
clip featuring the Austro-Hungarian Emperor,
Franz-Josef I.

Franz-Josef, the aging head
of an aging (and waning) empire, was effectively coerced into agreeing
to
go to war with Serbia by his government advisers in late July 1914.

Although the onset of the
war initially pulled together the many nationalities that comprised the
Habsburg Empire the stresses and strains of ongoing military setbacks
ultimately brought the already fragile Empire down.

Franz-Josef died in
November 1916 and was succeeded by
Karl I: the
latter was to be Austria-Hungary's last Emperor. Even before the close
of 1916 however it was becoming increasingly clear to Franz-Josef that the
Empire was dissolving.

The sound clip presented
here - recorded on 14 December 1915 - features Franz-Josef speaking in
favour of a military fund established for Austrian widows and orphans; it is
available using the player above.